This week we read Parshat Shoftim. In the middle of the parsha, we are told of certain wartime procedures. When we are about to go out to war, we will be given an inspirational speech by the priest. “Before you engage in battle, the priest shall come forward and speak to the troops, and shall say to them: ‘Hear, O Israel! Today you are drawing near to do battle against your enemies. Do not lose heart, or be afraid, or panic/flee, or be in dread of them; for it is the Lord your God who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to give you victory’/ וְהָיָה כְּקָרָבְכֶם אֶל־הַמִּלְחָמָה וְנִגַּשׁ הַכֹּהֵן וְדִבֶּר אֶל־הָעָם׃ וְאָמַר אֲלֵהֶם שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל אַתֶּם קְרֵבִים הַיּוֹם לַמִּלְחָמָה עַל־אֹיְבֵיכֶם אַל־יֵרַךְ לְבַבְכֶם אַל־תִּירְאוּ וְאַל־תַּחְפְּזוּ וְאַל־תַּעַרְצוּ מִפְּנֵיהֶם׃ כִּי ה' אֱלֹקיכֶם הַהֹלֵךְ עִמָּכֶם לְהִלָּחֵם לָכֶם עִם־אֹיְבֵיכֶם לְהוֹשִׁיעַ אֶתְכֶם.”[1] Rashi[2] explains through Rabbinic tradition what the priest is trying to tell us. He explains that we are not to be afraid of various tactics employed by the enemy that are used to scare us. Rashi notes that “do not panic/flee” refers to the trumpets or horns that the opposing armies would use to instill fear in our troops. These horns would call out to us, and we are told to ignore them, that their sound is meaningless. It is just a trick. This past week we welcomed in the month of Elul, the month that precedes Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur. Everyday this month[3] we take up the Shofar and blast it. According to Maimonides[4], the sound of the Shofar is saying, “Wake up you sleepy ones from your sleep and you who slumber, arise. Inspect your deeds, repent, remember your Creator.”[5] It is interesting that during this time of year we are using the Shofar to wake us up to the possibility of real change, while at the same time we are told that there are some noises that we simply need to ignore. It is often difficult to distinguish between the two sounds. That is why the priest first implores us to listen. Shma Yisrael! The Sfas Emes[6] teaches that following sin, the only way to fix it is specifically through listening.[7] If we can shut out everything else, and focus on what we are hearing, we will able to ignore the sounds that tell us to run in the wrong direction and we will be able to hear the sounds that remind us of the correct path to travel down. This, of course, takes practice to develop a good ear. This is why we have all of Elul to attune our hearing to the sound of the Shofar. May we have a good month of hearing our spiritual alarm clock. And may our New Year begin with the sweet ringing of Torah in our ears.Shabbat Shalom,Rabbi Ezra

[2][2] Shlomo Yitzchaki (Hebrew: רבי שלמה יצחקי‎‎; Latin: Salomon Isaacides; French: Salomon de Troyes, 22 February 1040 – 13 July 1105), today generally known by the acronym Rashi (Hebrew: רש"י‎, RAbbi SHlomo Itzhaki), was a medieval French rabbi and author of a comprehensive commentary on the Talmud and commentary on the Tanakh. Acclaimed for his ability to present the basic meaning of the text in a concise and lucid fashion, Rashi appeals to both learned scholars and beginner students, and his works remain a centerpiece of contemporary Jewish study.

[4] Rabbi Moses ben Maimon (1135-1204) (Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה בֶּן־מַימוֹן‎ Mōšeh bēn-Maymōn), commonly known as Maimonides), and also referred to by the acronym Rambam / (רמב״ם‎, for Rabbeinu Mōšeh bēn Maimon, "Our Rabbi Moses son of Maimon"), was a medieval Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars of the Middle Ages. In his time, he was also a preeminent astronomer and physician.

[6]Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter (Hebrew יהודה אריה ליב אלתר‎, 15 April 1847 – 11 January 1905), also known by the title of his main work, the Sfas Emes (Yiddish) or Sefat Emetשפת אמת‎ (Hebrew), was a Hasidic rabbi who succeeded his grandfather, Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Alter, as the Av beis din (head of the rabbinical court) and Rav of Góra Kalwaria, Poland (known in Yiddish as the town of Ger), and succeeded Rabbi Chanokh Heynekh HaKohen Levin of Aleksander as Rebbe of the Gerrer Hasidim

​ These past weeks have been difficult. On the shores of Nantasket Beach, we saw the formation of a swastika made of rocks. We saw Nazis march in Charlottesville calling out, “Jews will not replace us!” and “Blood and Soil!” These same hate filled white-supremacists will be marching tomorrow in our very own Boston Common. While many in our community are still processing the fear and anxiety that these actions are bringing out in us, and there is no clear unified response, there is one thing that remains clear: We, as Jews, are all in this together. This week we read Parshat Re’eh. The parsha opens with God proclaiming, “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse/רְאֵה, אָנֹכִי נֹתֵן לִפְנֵיכֶם הַיּוֹם, בְּרָכָה וּקְלָלָה.”[1] The Kli Yakar[2] asks about the meaning of “before you.” He teaches that “before you” means “all of you.” This is highlighted in our parsha when it speaks about the people receiving the promise of blessing and the warning of curses while gathered on two mountains that face each other, Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Eival. It was there, on those mountains, that the Jews were made responsible for each other[3], and from the perspective of responsibility, the masses are caught up in the wrong doing of the individual.[4] As the Kli Yakar puts it, when one of us does something, it reflects on all of us. We, of course, have the choice before us. We can choose to be upright, and thus add blessing and holiness to our world, our people and our God/kiddush Hashem. Or, our actions can degrade our name and the presence of God in this world/hillul Hashem. When a Jew does something across the world, that has an effect on me and our people. And when something happens to a Jew hundreds of miles away, that has an effect on me as well. There are those from our people that went to Virginia last week. While I did not go, a part of me could not get it out of my mind all Shabbat. My people were in trouble. How can I help? I am responsible for them! This week, there are many that will go protest and stand up to hate in our world. And there are many who will gather together for Shabbat services, pray together and learn Torah. Those of us in shul will have all the upstanders in our minds and hearts. We will pray for your words of peace to be heard and for you to return home safely. This week, we are all called to remember our eternal bond: All Israel is responsible for each other.

​ Making blessings/brachot before meals has long been an important part of my life. Growing up at my parents' table, we would always make a bracha before eating dinner. And, on Shabbos, I got to make Hamotzi after the preliminary events. This was a big deal. I had control over the last thing before we finally got to eat our feast. As I saw it, it did not matter how it went down, as long as it happened. So, many times when I just wanted to get on with the evening, I would rush and say the words as fast as possible. These times, I was scolded, and told to do it over again, and slower, by my father. Years later, I would marry my wife, Laura. She has Moroccan heritage so, after getting together, we had to discuss melding our ritual lives together—this Galicianer Jew and that Moroccan Jew. One place where we adopted her family’s custom, was for Shabbat Hamotzi. After the Hamotzi, her father takes the hallah, and dips it three times in salt, saying “Hashem melekh, Hashem malakh, Hashem yimlokh le’olam va’ed”—a pun on kingship/melekh, malakh, yimlokh and salt/melah. However, as the calendar turned to the holidays/hagim, I was not sure how to proceed. On the hagim, we put honey/devash[1] on our hallah, not salt. If I was not going to put salt on the hallah, then what would I say? My father-in-law’s pun no longer applied. After doing some digging, I knew what I wanted to say when we applied the devash to our hallah. “For the Lord your God brings you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths, springing forth in valleys and hills. A land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig-trees and pomegranates; a land of olive-trees and honey/כי ה' אלוקיך מביאך אל ארץ טובה ארץ נחלי מים עינות תהומות יוצאם בבקעה ובהר. ארץ חטה ושעורה וגפן ותאנה ורמון ארץ זית שמן ודבש.”[2]—the beautiful words of praise of the Land from our parsha, Parshat Ekev. Why did I choose these verses/pesukim? The pesukim evoke a visceral image and deep longing for the Zionist fantasy. This is what the Land looks like and this is the Land that I dream of returning to. It is pure, holy and natural. The Sfas Emes[3] teaches that on Shabbat, which is all good/yom she’kulo Shabbat, one can feel a taste of the world to come/me’ein olam haba. Just as Shabbat is good/tova, so too is the Land--eretz tova. And just as Shabbat is a portion from which the springs of blessing are opened, as the Prophet Ezekiel says, “on Shabbat the gates are opened/b’yom Shabbat yipateach,”[4], so too in the Land, the waters of blessing flow towards us (a land of brooks and water/eretz nahalei mayim). His final point here is that there is nothing that is “Good” that is not Torah/ein tova ela Torah.[5] If Shabbat and the Land are completely “Good”, then with the help of Torah, we can bring the “Good” with us wherever we go. The Netziv[6] teaches that our brachot before eating food bring forth the blessing of the Land, whether inside of it or not. And specifically, outside of it, we need to pray more and offer more brachot to bring the wells of the Land to us.[7] It is obviously harder to feel the way we do in the Diaspora the way we do when we are in Israel. But with hard work and focus, there are times when we can feel our feet grounded here just as we do in the Land. Our fantasy as Jews is to make every place around us like the quality of the Land. Everywhere should be “Good” and of bountiful blessing. And through Torah, prayer/tefilla and intentional brachot, our fantasies can become a redemptive reality.Shabbat Shalom,Rabbi Ezra

[1] To be clear, we put Silan, date honey, on the hallah. Why? To be true to the Biblical text. Plus, it’s delicious!

[3]Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter (Hebrew יהודה אריה ליב אלתר‎, 15 April 1847 – 11 January 1905), also known by the title of his main work, the Sfas Emes (Yiddish) or Sefat Emetשפת אמת‎ (Hebrew), was a Hasidic rabbi who succeeded his grandfather, Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Alter, as the Av beis din (head of the rabbinical court) and Rav of Góra Kalwaria, Poland (known in Yiddish as the town of Ger), and succeeded Rabbi Chanokh Heynekh HaKohen Levin of Aleksander as Rebbe of the Gerrer Hasidim

[6]Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin (1816 in Mir, Russia – August 10, 1893 in Warsaw, Poland), also known as Reb Hirsch Leib Berlin, and commonly known by the acronym Netziv, was an Orthodox rabbi, dean of the Volozhin Yeshiva and author of several works of rabbinic literature in Lithuania.

​ This Shabbat we read that famous words of the Shma. “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is One. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might./שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל: ה’ אֱלֹקינוּ, ה’ אֶחָד. וְאָהַבְתָּ אֵת ה’ אֱלֹקיךָ בְּכָל לְבָבְךָ וּבְכָל-נַפְשְׁךָ וּבְכָל-מְאֹדֶךָ.” (Deut. 6:4-5). There are those who question, “how can you command somebody to love?” Certainly, we can understand this on the family level. When many of us were young children, we were told to love our brothers or sisters, or told to say, “I love you” to other relatives. We were taught that we were supposed to love certain people. Yet, this verse feels different and seems to be asking something much more than that. The Sfas Emes* teaches (Va’Ethanan 5648-9) that this commandment/mitzvah is a heavenly gift, that through Torah and mitzvot love can be stirred up in a person. Shabbat is called a “great gift”**, for Shabbat is considered, qualitatively, as Love. As is well known in other Hasidic materials, the six days of the week are of the quality of Awe, and Shabbat is Love. Making it through the six days of Awe causes one to merit the Love of Shabbat. And from the Love that one experiences on Shabbat, Awe is added to his/her behavior during the week, as the Rabbis explain (Tanna Devei Eliyahu), “I feared because I rejoiced, and I rejoiced because I feared/יראתי מתוך ששמחתי ושמחתי מתוך שיראתי.” Our joyous rest on Shabbat should grow because of the work we do during the week, and, the love we feel on Shabbat should inspire us to work harder during the seemingly mundane weekdays that follow. Being commanded to love is tough for many of us. Ultimately, to fulfill this on a daily basis, one needs to accept this commandment seriously. Doing as commanded, or “because I said so” is difficult. However, showing this kind of discipline, the day-in day-out performance of mitzvot has its rewards. Many of us know the joy of Shabbat and the “big moments” of Jewish life. Those are good and important and we should continue to strive to make them a part of our lives. And that is only part of the picture. Robert De Niro said it best in A Bronx Tale, “...try and get up every morning, day after day and work for a living...the working man is the tough guy.” It takes a commitment to make Shabbat and holidays a part of our lives. But our work/avodah is more than that. We are charged with the task of doing mitzvot and bringing God and Torah with us everywhere that we go, every day of the week. “Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates/וְהָיוּ הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ הַיּוֹם עַל-לְבָבֶךָ. וְשִׁנַּנְתָּם לְבָנֶיךָ וְדִבַּרְתָּ בָּם, בְּשִׁבְתְּךָ בְּבֵיתֶךָ וּבְלֶכְתְּךָ בַדֶּרֶךְ וּבְשָׁכְבְּךָ וּבְקוּמֶךָ. וּקְשַׁרְתָּם לְאוֹת עַל-יָדֶך; וְהָיוּ לְטֹטָפֹת בֵּין עֵינֶיךָ. וּכְתַבְתָּם עַל מְזֻזוֹת בֵּיתֶךָ וּבִשְׁעָרֶיךָ.” (Deut. 6:6-9). This week, let us renew our acceptance of this mitzvah. Let’s wake up every morning and go to work.

Shabbat Shalom,Rabbi Ezra

*Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter (Hebrew יהודה אריה ליב אלתר‎, 15 April 1847 – 11 January 1905), also known by the title of his main work, the Sfas Emes (Yiddish) or Sefat Emetשפת אמת‎ (Hebrew), was a Hasidic rabbi who succeeded his grandfather, Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Alter, as the Av beis din (head of the rabbinical court) and Rav of Góra Kalwaria, Poland (known in Yiddish as the town of Ger), and succeeded Rabbi Chanokh Heynekh HaKohen Levin of Aleksander as Rebbe of the Gerrer Hasidim.

**This comes from BT Shabbat 10b, “the Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Moses: I have a good gift in My treasure house and Shabbat is its name, and I seek to give it to Israel/א"ל הקב"ה למשה:מתנה טובה יש לי בבית גנזי ושבת שמה ואני מבקש ליתנה לישראל .”

Author

Rabbi Ezra Balser has been the rabbi at Temple Beth Sholom since July 1, 2016. He received his “smicha” (ordination) in June 2017 from Hebrew College while also earning a Master’s Degree in Jewish Studies. He has also received the iCenter's Certification in Israel Education.